Movie airing at the Mayfair shows the dark side of Newfoundland

The indie film Crown and Anchor tells the story of two long-estranged cousins, brought together again for a family funeral in St. John’s, Nfld. Former MuchMusic VJ Matt Wells, a 40-year-old native of Newfoundland and Labrador, wrote the original story and stars as one of the cousins, alongside his friend and former bandmate Michael Rowe, while Michael’s brother, Andrew Rowe, directed it.

In this interview, which was edited for length, Wells explains how his family inspired the tale, the role of toxic masculinity in addiction and what it’s like to snort movie cocaine.

Q: I understand the script is based on your family’s experience. Tell me about that inspiration.

A: The premise really came from my grandfather who died mysteriously when I was 11 or 12. There was always a lot of chatter about him. He was an infamous character in my life. He was an alcoholic, he had those dark moments, but what was really fascinating to me was my mom. She broke the cycle of addiction and alcoholism for me and my sister. She’s my hero. A couple of her brothers were unable to break the cycle and they continued very similarly in the footsteps of my grandfather, which meant that their own children did as well.

So the two main characters in this film, the one that I play, Danny, and the one that Michael plays, James, they represent those two worlds. My character Danny is dealing with the demons outwardly. The other character James kept it internal. He went straight edge but he has anger issues. That was the beginning of the story and then when Andrew came on, he really focused it and made it more of a character study.

Q: Does toxic masculinity have a part to play in the cycle of addiction?

A: Excellent question, and it’s something that, when Andrew refocused this script, he really wanted to focus on. This movie is a very male-driven film. These two main male characters, James and Danny, are dealing with this cycle of addiction and abuse in their own way. And we’re getting to meet the older generation, the uncles and the fathers, to understand where it came from but what you see in this film is it doesn’t work out for them.

You see a lot of people who are dealing with addiction and abuse, and toxic masculinity is pervasive in it. And at the end of the day, they’re all unhappy and miserable. The snapshot we took was to show that it came from this one man, the father, the patriarch, if you can call him that, of this petty crime family and he influenced all of them horribly. He was abusive, addicted. Even in jail, he’s still that way. There’s nothing about this where we glorify the idea of being a man. The father in this movie has a line that says, “You gotta use your fists if you wanna be a man.” But he’s saying that from behind bars. This movie is as much about toxic masculinity as it is about cycles of addiction and violence, but not everybody will get that. Some people will say, ‘Oh this is just a bunch of guys being guys.’

Crown and Anchor film. Credit: Handout photo.OTTwp

Q: It was shot in Newfoundland but you don’t see the ocean. How come?

A: First and foremost, it just didn’t serve the story or characters. These characters, they lived a very insular life. There was no place in the story for them to go and be hanging out by the ocean or be in a beautiful place. One guy is trying to keep his addiction going by selling drugs so all he’s thinking about is getting from one trick to the next trick to make a little bit of money. On the other hand, myself and Michael and Andrew, we really wanted to make a different kind of Newfoundland movie. That’s where we’re from, and I’m the first to tell you that it’s the most beautiful place you’ll ever go. It’s culturally and socially unique but that’s not the movie we wanted to make.

Q: What were you aiming for?

A: We grew up in this punk, hardcore band and we used to spend a lot of time in downtown St. John’s in the back alleys and the corners, lugging gear up the stairs in behind the bars. There is a side of Newfoundland that is dark, just like any place. And Andrew, as a director, he wanted to make the audience feel the claustrophobia that these characters felt. They felt trapped on this island. One of the lines is when Danny’s wife says to him, ‘You’re robbing stores again. What are you going to do if the cops come find you? You live on an island. Are you going to jump in the ocean and start swimming?’ We wanted the audience to feel how trapped these characters feel in life. And that was done better by shooting them very close, enclosed and not really showing any exteriors.

Q: The punk soundtrack helps illustrate that frustration, too. Was that intentional?

A: Yup, absolutely. That was something Andrew brought to the project. Andrew was youngest of five boys, and one thing he didn’t like was when people were drinking. So for a very long time, Andrew was straight edge, which in the hardcore world means you don’t drink, you don’t smoke, and in some extreme cases, you’re vegan. It’s all about clean living. As soon as Andrew realized the main character, James, would have been straight edge as a rebellion to his alcoholic father, that helped him really differentiate the characters. So James is very straight edge and has a lot of routine in his life, whereas the character I played, Danny, is the looser party guy. So he specifically picked music that would paint that picture.

Q: What was it like playing Danny?

A: (Laughs) It was fun, man. I shaved my head. I had a tattoo on my neck. I do a lot of drugs, a lot of fake movie drugs. The movie cocaine is called inositol, it’s a vitamin B powder. Full disclosure, I’d never tried cocaine. I think I was afraid of it because of my family history. I had to become versed in what it’s like to do cocaine so I did a lot of this inositol to feel like I would look like a legitimate cokehead who was comfortable taking a bump off a key. But what I learned from my doctor is there are a lot of similarities to the aftereffects of cocaine. Obviously the powder is not bad for you but you get a rush and you come down and you feel like you want some more. And you get a nasal drip. On one hand, as an actor, it was fun to explore something like that. But I did find myself very agitated sometimes and I felt like how maybe Danny would feel. I’d wake up and feel gross from the night before. We’d done a late shoot, and I probably did 15 lines of vitamin B powder. As a human being, it definitely got dark. It probably took a minute or two to shake that feeling I had every day of being this dark guy.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.